


As you chased him, I chase you

by hydrangea



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, flirting with go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-27
Updated: 2013-06-27
Packaged: 2017-12-16 09:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrangea/pseuds/hydrangea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after the Hokuto Cup, Hong Suyeong decides it's time to properly introduce himself to Shindou Hikaru again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As you chased him, I chase you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aoigensou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aoigensou/gifts).



It begins, as many things does, with a go board. The game is half-played -- white has fought its way back into the game after an early advance by black, and now there's a fierce battle in the upper left for every scrap of territory left to take. The next move will decide the game -- whether black's territory will crumble, whether white will end the chase and finally overtake the opponent. The clock ticks down. The tea poured early in the game has gone cold. A fan, usually spread with a peacock's pride, rests folded on a knee. It's quiet.

The moment grows.

 

_"Hey, Shindou. Looks like that Go Yongha bastard didn't make it after all. He's not on their list for the tournament."_

_"_ What _?"_

_"Yeah, they're sending that. . .Hong Suyeong?. . .kid instead."_

_". . .Hong Suyeong?"_

_"You remember him?"_

_"Maybe. I don't know."_

There's ten seconds left on the game clock. Suyeong's fingers rest dipped into the stone bowl, a white stone between his fingertips. Hikaru's heart counts down the seconds; his mind counts down the moves, the possible ways out, the points he will lose if Suyeong manages to find the way past his defenses. His fingers itch but he brought the fan for Go Yongha, brought it when he thought he'd have another chance to battle for Sai's honor. It doesn't belong in this game with--

Suyeong reaches, the movement confident. _Pachi_.

The stone shines. The connections it makes, the possibilities it ends, lights up in bright white across the board as Hikaru's eyes fly across the battlefield between them. Suyeong's fingertips rest on it for half a second, the weight of it pushing down on Hikaru's shoulders like a mountain. Then he withdraws it. Hikaru's breath escapes him. The black lines he had drawn in his mind, the maps he had carefully planned, are all slashed through with a sword he'd mistaken for a knife.

There's no way out.

 

_"Shindou Hikaru."_

_Suyeong tastes the name on his tongue, compares it to the man in front of him. The sharp fire of five years ago is still in Shindou's eyes, he can see it even at this distance. They're busy firing  metaphorical arrows at Touya Akira, the hope of the Japanese Go world according to the Go magazines at home, and wholly unaware of Suyeong. He doubts that Shindou would see him even if Suyeong would walk in front of him and snap his fingers in front of Shindou's nose. That will change._ He _will change it._

"I resign."

The words aren't as bitter as they would've been only years ago. Hikaru's further up the ranks now, he knows defeat as well as he knows victory. Still -- this is not Go Yongha, whom he came to fight; this is the bratty kid he'd played eight years ago that had cried his eyes out over a defeat he hadn't expected. This is the polite kid he didn't play five years ago, but watched him like a hawk. Only there's not much left of either of those kids now -- not in this tall teenager with fashionably swooped hair and eyes that reads as deep as any seasoned pro.

"It was a good game."

It's not a platitude. There's weight behind the stilted words, the accented Japanese, just as there had been behind the winning move. It stirs something inside him, stirs something that only Touya Akira has managed to reach since he lost Sai.

"You're not a kid." The words slip out of him. He wishes he could take them back almost before they're said. "I mean," he hastily adds, "I didn't recognize you."

"I know." Hikaru's hand clench around the fan. The look Suyeong gives him isn't polite, isn't superficial. "I've been looking forwards to this game, Shindou Hikaru."

Somehow, it feels like he's been caught in a trap.

 

_"I saw your game."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"You shouldn't have let him taunt you into moving into his territory in the lower right. You lost the game there -- if you'd only--"_

_"But if I didn't move there, he would've taken--!"_

_"Not if--"_

_"I thought of that! My move into his territory would've--"_

_"Only a fool would think that--"_

_"Only an_ idiot _wouldn't see that if I--"_

_"Quiet, both of you. You're scaring the customers!"_

_"I'm sorry."_

_"_ Ow _! Yeah. Sorry."_

_". . ."_

_". . .I underestimated him."_

_"I know."_

In the end, he has to look up the address online. He can't remember the name, but he does remember the general area and it isn't as if there's too many Korean-owned go salons around. There's a subway stop not far from the salon and he fights his way through the morning crowds to reach the street level and orient himself before he heads off towards his destination. He isn't sure that Suyeong will be there, but he thinks he will be. _Has_ to be. The taunting in his words, the look in his eyes -- Hikaru knew them. _You'll never beat me_ , they'd said. _Come and try._

He jogs up the stairs, the exercise making his thighs burn. It's not the reason his heart thuds as he walks inside however. The man at the desk doesn't comment when he pays the fee. There's a magazine on the counter; Hikaru can see his own face staring up at him. The man nods towards the back after handing Hikaru his change. In the silence of a go salon during work hours, the sharp click of a go stone put onto a board nearly echoes. When Hikaru turns, Suyeong's eyes are on him and his fingers rest on the first stone of a game.

Hikaru grins. Challenge accepted.

 

_Suyeong grabs his wrist. His fingers are stronger than Hikaru expected, their heat burns against his skin. "Give me," he demands, then takes the cellphone before Hikaru can answer. He types quickly, his fingers nimbler than Hikaru's by far. "My cellphone number. And my net handle."_

_"I don't have a--"_

_"Sunday. 5pm." Suyeong takes a step forwards; Hikaru retreats, finds the wall at his back. "Don't be late." This, he says close enough for Hikaru to see the edges of Suyeong's contacts in his eyes. His breath sticks, his heart beats. Suyeong's breath warms his lips and for a moment, he thinks that Suyeong will kiss him. Then, without thinking, he himself leans in. Suyeong shivers, then there's a hand in Hikaru's hair holding him still. When he pulls away, Hikaru nearly follows. "5pm," Suyeong repeats breathlessly._

_Hikaru nods. "5pm."_

This game is fast. Hikaru doesn't let himself think; Suyeong's fingers doesn't linger on the stones. Territory expands, decrease; battles are foughts and there's nothing close to order spread over the board between them. He keeps count in his head; he's ahead, he's behind, they're even. Then, he sees it.

He places the stone. Suyeong's eyes widen. For a moment, Suyeong's hand tremble; a stone resting between his fingers. Then it drops, and the sound it makes as it hits the other stones sends a shiver down Hikaru's back. There's something wild, something unfettered expanding inside of him, something that matches the look on Suyeong's face as it goes from disgruntled to neutral to oddly triumphant.

"Good game."

Hikaru looks at the board. It's been long since he's had a game like this -- even with Touya, even with Yashiro, there's a degree of preditability that's grown over the years. "Yeah. Yeah, it was."

Suyeong's smile widen. "Another?"

"You're on."


End file.
